Winner Take All (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In January 1997, a young coed is found strangled and naked near a creek in rural North Carolina. Special Agent Clark Hager of the State Bureau of Investigation's Investigative Support Unit is brought in to investigate and succeeds in linking the killing with the murders of two other young women. Hager, an FBI-trained profiler, detects the work of a serial killer and before long finds himself embroiled in a psychologically complex and terrifying case that puts him and his loved ones in mortal danger.

Jeff Pate's Winner Take All has all of the makings of a page-turner: sex, death, intrigue, and revenge. The author, a veteran police officer from North Carolina, is clearly in his element when describing crime scenes or law enforcement procedure. The plotting is not as subtle as it could be, and some of Pate's characters--females in particular--have a clichéd, one-dimensional quality. Stylistic errors (grammatical and syntactical) don't help. Still, Winner Take All has moments of strong drama and suspense. And the author's real-life knowledge of crime scene details will appeal to fans of the genre. --Svenja Soldovieri

Product Description

A serial killer is on the loose in North Carolina in Jeff Pate's first novel. A police detective in North Carolina, Pate introduces SBI Special Agent Clark Hager in a stunning debut. Folow Hager, an FBI-trained profiler and his partner as they trail a vicious serial killer in a psychologically complex and terrifying case--a roller coaster ride of suspense and intrigue as the reader gets to enter the mind of a monster. Culminating in an epic battle between good versus evil, Hager meets the killer in a spine-tingling death match where it's...Winner Take All.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Harlan Publishing Company; 1st edition (April 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967652804
• ISBN-13: 978-0967652801
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,122,624 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SUSPENSEFUL THRILLER, March 26, 2000

By	Theresa E Matterson (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

I'm a big fan of James Patterson and Patricia Cornwell and I think there's a new star on the horizon in North Carolina. Jeff Pate is a police detective in High Point, NC and has written a novel that surpasses all the others in the genre. "Winner Take All" took my emotions on a ride from nail-biting suspense to crying and laughing. I found myself rooting for Clark Hager as he tried to catch a serial killer. When I finished the book, which was in two days, I didn't want it to end. For fans of the big name authors, "Winner Take All" is a MUST READ! You won't be disappointed.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A terrific debut novel of substance, imagination & talent., April 5, 2000

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Author Jeff Pate is a veteran police detective who draws on his years of experience to lend a very special authenticity to Winner Take All, a powerfully written suspense novel that is packed with action and cutting-edge tension. Clark Hager is a special agent with the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. With his partner Lloyd Sheridan, Hager delves into the death of a young woman found in rural Hertford County. This leads to another recent murder of a college student in Wilmington. Then another body is found in Greensboro, apparently the victim to the same killer. Winner Take All is an epic battle of hunter versus prey, a struggle between good and evil with no quarter given and the end result very much in question. Winner Take All is a terrific debut novel that established Jeff Pate as an author of substance, imagination, and talent.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Can't believe author was a police officer, January 26, 2001

By	Gerald N. Kern "xnycop" (Scottsdale, AZ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

There are so many dumb non-cop things in this book, it's hard to believe that the author was a police officer. A few examples: 1. He is looking for a serial killer posing as a photographer. His daughter gets a call from a doubtful photographer from Playboy magazine but he neglects to check it out for two days. 2. He gets a reliable car description, a 1993 Datsun 300ZX - RED, and does not do a DMV search in the suspects known area of operations, i.e., Wilmington, NC. 3. He drinks 8 beers and gets snockered while guarding his threatened daughter and girlfriend from the serial killer. 4. A non-sworn lab technician, not authorized to carry a weapon, is sent with his partner to guard a suspect under death threat.

It just goes on and on. This book has about twenty great pages but the whole thing goes to pieces with the lack of reality.

Not in the class of Caunitz, Wambaugh, WEB Griffin or any of the REAL police writers.